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As far as using the internet, you must ask your provider what the costs will be. They can be outrageous.

I use a credit card for most transactions in Europe. American Express is accepted in fewer places than Visa and MasterCard. You can read many threads here about the foreign transaction fee imposed by many cards. I use a Capital One card with no foreign transaction fee. But even if you have to pay a fee, it is likely to be smaller than the cost of buying euros in the US.

There is a division of opinion on whether to get a small amount in euros before leaving the US. You will pay more to do this than you will pay at an ATM in Europe, but for some people it is worth it to have a starter supply for peace of mind.

Are you from the US?
Internet = mobile internet? This depends on your carrier and usage (how many MB are you looking at?) Each carrier has a web page describing international data roaming.

For lower usage: much less than 1GB
ATT Wireless, Verizon - your iPhone will surf at an outrageous rate. Get their international data roaming packages.
T-Mobile USA - no contract $50/mo service. International data roaming is included. Highspeed up to 500MB and slower after.

High data usage >> 1 GB.
Have your phone unlocked (if ATT? Verizon iPhone 5 are unlocked) and get a local SIM.

Use of plastic is a very frequently asked question here. To sum up, most North American financial institutions (although not all, as indicated above) impose a fee of several dollars on each and every foreign currency transaction, both credit and ATM cards. It makes more financial sense to withdraw a large amount from an ATM machine (but not with a credit card) and use cash for most transactions, thus spreading the fee out. I only use a credit card for a large purchase. It is well known that American Express is not popular in Europe because of its merchant fees. And your bank will give you a poorer exchange rate than the published, wholesale figure. They want to make money on all these transactions. It's a cost of travel.

Switch to T-Mobile and forget about roaming charges (data roaming and messaging are free). Local or international calls will only cost you $0.20/minute, far cheaper then even my MoviStar service.

You can use your Amex to pay your hotel bills, shopping at any major store and when dining at any of the major restaurants, but Visa and MC are preferred at smaller restaurants (cash always works) and at smaller stores.

See if your bank has a credit card with no foreign transaction fee. It will save you quite a bit. A few are now offering chip and signature cards, but the regular swipe card works well in Paris.

If you bank with Bank of America, there is no transaction fee ($5/transaction) when using the BNP Paribas ATMs, which you'll have no trouble finding in Paris.

<<most North American financial institutions ... impose a fee of several dollars on each and every foreign currency transaction, both credit and ATM cards>>

No, that isn't what they do. They impose a percentage rate fee on foreign charges so it is a percentage of the amount, it's not a flat fee of several dollars. No US bank does that. Many banks and credit cards charge 3 pct of the amount. I do have one CC that charges 0 (Cap One) but I also have one that only charges 2 pct (the AAA Visa).

Some banks may charge a flat dollar fee for foreign ATM use, but that is usually because they charge that fee for any ATM use that is not their own bank -- they would charge it if you used another ATM in the US, also, usually. And those banks also charge the percentage foreign transaction rate markup.

AS for a good website for French phrases? I don't know apps, I'm sure there are many. The BBC has a good website with French info, holiday phrases (vacation) are on the right side. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/

Capitol one bank has a 0% intl transaction fee. I was unable to us e American Express in Paris when I tried. Use a debit card at BANK ATMs. Make photocopies of both sides of your credit cards. If you need to contact your bank (and we did) you must use a landline to call collect. Call your banks and tell them of every country you'll be visiting. They will give you the # to use to call collect. Withdraw euros once you arrive at the airport. Your stateside bank will charge outrageous sum, i know from personal experience!

venus - so we don't lose the part of your question about using your iPhone to access data in Paris.
The two ways your phone accesses data are via WiFi and via mobile service network. If you access data in Paris via mobile service network using your US AT&T phone you will pay dearly. If you access via WiFi (which is widely available for little or no cost) you pay nothing.
Unless you turn off data roaming your phone will continuously use data when it does things like check to see if any new email has arrived.
If there are times when you will want/need to access data via the network definitely consider purchasing one of the packages offered by AT&T for foreign data roaming. www.att.com/att/global/affordable-world-packages/?data

In addition to purchasing the smallest AT&T data package, we also get an international texting package. It is so much cheaper than making or receiving phone calls. Incoming texts are free wherever they are sent from.

Most cafes and bars have wifi (pronounced in France as "wee-fee"), just ask and if there's a code, they'll give it to you. Many hotels will also provide free wifi, but you'll need a code for each of your electronic devices -- so if you and your partner each have a laptop or Ipad and a smartphone, you'll want 4 codes. Much better than in the U.S. where some hotels that charge for wifi charge for EACH device!

For credit cards, aside from the Capitol 1 Visa and Master Cards -- and many of us have these cards just BECAUSE of the no transaction fee, the Chase Sapphire preferred Visa has no transaction fees and double points that can be used to bump up your mileage on any airline of your choosing (plus a bunch of other benefits). Another card out now is Bank of America that has a travel rewards card that has no transaction fee plus had chip and pin.

One other thing that has been periodically discussed on this forum that might be suitable to mention again in this thread, is the DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion)-- where they ask if you want to be charged in US currency rather than local currency, but don't tell you about the "convenience" charge associated with it. See below for more details, but you should be aware of this, because it's becoming a more prevalent question posed at hotels and shops around France.

Surfergirl, I had forgotten about that. We were in Paris in October and did some Christmas shopping at Galerie Lafayette. For every purchase we had to decline the DDC on the keypad after swiping our credit card. I hadn't noticed that before.

Amex does not allow DCC, so it never comes up when doing a transaction.

"Incoming texts are free wherever they are sent from" You may want to double check that. They are only free if using an iPhone in a WiFi zone and the message is from another iPhone, iPad or iPod device.

The smallest AT&T data package doesn't last lone if you use the mapping feature on your phone or receive emails with attachments. I went through two 120MB plans in 15 days just checking emails and doing a few minutes of mapping to check our location while out on the road this past October.

There were no additional charges from T-Moble on our last trip where I was using email, messaging, mapping and internet searches quite often while out walking around Dublin last month. AT&T is an excellent service, but makes no sense if you travel outside of the country very often.

Robert2533, my AT&T agent said ALL incoming texts are free and I wasn't charged for any, whether on wifi or not. Maybe something unique to my plan.
I only turned on roaming when I needed to look something up or access an app so didn't turn on mapping, etc. Mine lasted for a two week trip (but used sparingly!)

Following advice from here, after confirming on my own, we went with Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) for a chip-and-signature card with 0% Foreign Transaction Fee (FTF--an abbreviation you will likely see on other sites. We applied at our local Chase bank--where they told us the required amount to get the bonus rewards was $2000 within 3 months. Online, the amount is $3000 in 3 months.

As backup, we got the USAA World MasterCard. While it has a 1% FTF, it is a true chip-and-pin. Their ATM card--the one linked to checking accounts, not savings accounts--does have a 1% FTF, but they reimburse ATM fees from banks (note, thats NOT third party ATMs).

This is a summary of what took a while for me to get when I just starting t get info.

As for phones, like you, we have iPhones through AT&T. That's my next step, getting all of that right.

As backup, we got the USAA World MasterCard. While it has a 1% FTF, it is a true chip-and-pin.

The 1% charge on USAA credit cards is not a foreign transaction fee. It is a currency conversion fee and there is an important difference. Visa or Mastercard collect the currency conversion fees for just that, converting dollars in to euors to pay the merchant.

Foreign transaction fees are collected by your local bank (typically up to 2%) and USAA does not take money from its customers for using their credit cards outside of the USA. USAA only passes along the 1% currency conversion fee charged by Visa/Mastercard. There are banks which absorb the currency conversion fee. PenFed, Andrews FCU, some Schwab cards and Captial One are examples.

The USAA Mastercard is the only no annual fee, pin and chip card available in the US to my knowledge. Using this card while traveling, you will never be asked for a signature. All charge transactions are completed using a pin.

Their ATM card--the one linked to checking accounts, not savings accounts--does have a 1% FTF,

The USAA 1% ATM fee is again a currency conversion fee charged by Maestro/Cirrus. It is not a foreign transaction fee and USAA receives nothing for allowing its customers access to foreign ATMs. USAA simply passes along this Maestro/Cirrus fee to its customers.

Just thought of something else you might want to look into for your travel. AT&T now offers an app you can download - AT&T Call International - which when you use with a WiFi connection provides discounted rates for voice calls. We used it on our Androids in Spain and France last summer and it was great. Believe it is also available for iPhone https://callinternational.att.com/howItWorks/howItWorks.htm

T-Mobile has offered free VoIP service on its Android smart phones for years. All you need is a WiFi connection and your US calls, both inbound and outbound, cost you nothing, from anywhere in the world.

Sarastro, I know that you know your stuff, cause I've been reading your posts and you're always right. But whatever the fee is for USAA overseas, their website calls it a "1% fee for foreign transactions," which most would think is an FTF from the wording of the description.

You may call these fees anything you like propita. But to differentiate between what USAA takes and what USAA simply passes through to the user, there should be a clear distinction in understanding and terminology.

For marketing purposes, USAA may not choose to clearly define these important differences and may choose to adopt simple nomenclature of a very general nature. However, many banks do take, for themselves, a very large portion of the costs of foreign transactions and this fact should be illustrated and differences noted. USAA does not impose nor take transaction fees and it is to clarify these advantages to the consumer that I find it important to underline these differences.

I agree, it is important. And I appreciate that you take the time to do so. I was just pointing out the wording that USAA’s own website uses. Whether their choice is correct or incorrect, or makes things more or less clear to consumers, that matters.

Just to say that, I’m not disagreeing with you. I wish that US banks (and insurance companies, for that matter) were required to use the same phrasing for the same purpose. God knows I don’t understand my medical plan card, with different parties using different names for the same data. Same thing with banks is all I’m saying.

Regardless of the fee it would be nice to have a chip and pin card while in Europe. In France you can only use them at gas stations, at tolls, for parking etc. , regular swipe cards do not work ( but they are accepted in restaurants and stores). Especially for buying gas the card is important as otherwise you need to go to a manned gas station. Some small towns do not have manned gas stations. Luckily the cars are diesel so you don't need to fill up too often.

Regarding your phone, when you call your company to check ask for a "global specialist". I spoke to someone who did not know what they were talking about and my iPhone did not work in France last summer. When I got home and called them they told me to ask for the specialist next time. Maybe my phone will work in Italy this summer!

I notice this thread does not include info on T mobile's plan which includes free data in 200 countries. We used this plan to text, use our google maps app, and use some apps specific to Paris - all for no charge.